With the Elk Fire not fully contained, the staff and volunteers at the nonprofit Antelope Butte Ski Resort are gearing up for another ski season on the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming. To date, the Elk Fire has charred over 96,000 acres and is roughly 10 to 12 miles from the ski resort.
Highway 14 over the Bighorn Mountains, which is the main route to Antelope Butte, is still closed and the guardrails along the highway have been compromised by the fire. However, resort staff anticipates that the highway will be open in time for the ski season, which is scheduled to kick off less than two months away.
“We've never actually had even a wisp of smoke over on this side,” General Manager John DeVivo said. “There might have been one or two nights in the last three weeks where we could even smell anything.”
Fire Prevention
On Sept. 29, staff and volunteers were up at about mid mountain and, according to DeVito, they could see some of the plume from Elk Fire.
The fire was started by lightning two days earlier, and it would be overnight Sept. 29-30 that it would explode by about 20,000 acres and scream down the eastern face of the Bighorns toward Dayton. With the west side of the fire threatening Burgess Junction, the ski resort is one of the area firefighting crews set up. Another is the nearby Elk View Inn.
“We were already starting to shift things around and pull stuff out of buildings,” DeVito said. “We were starting to look at pre-areas that we could do some work in and the fire crews said, ‘No, listen, if that thing starts getting close, we will protect the area because it's our camp.’ So that worked out very well, because I was one guy here.”
A spike camp of up to 200 firefighters had been stationed at Antelope Butte before being relocated Oct. 17, when the weather turned cooler.
“It provided a level of protection for the ski area, but it also gave them a more centralized location to fight that southwestern edge of the fire,” DeVivo said. “I met folks from literally every state in the West and a couple of states back East. They were incredibly happy just to have an indoor setting. They could sit, relax, eat their meals, warm up for a little bit.”
Even though the fire crews are no longer needed at Antelope Butte, the resort is keeping their land use permit open in case they need to return.
The Elk Fire is an ominous sight burning northeast of Antelope Butte Ski Resort. (Courtesy Photo) 
Work crews have worked a total of eight days on the mountain clearing and trimming back trees and bushes at the Antelope Butte Ski Resort in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. They were comprised of both staff and volunteers. (Courtesy Photo)
Trail Prep
Having the spike camp stationed at Antelope Butte meant that the ski employees were able to stay as well and get their preparation work completed.
“They've given us a couple of special exemptions to do work projects and be able to get down over there,” DeVivo said.
Volunteers and staff spent eight days of clearing trees and brush this fall in eight areas of the mountain in preparation of the ski season after receiving U.S. Forest Service approval. DeVivo said it was all done in the name of better safety and “skiability.”
Ski Instructor Scott Badley was part of the trail crew, and said that they have been busy widening and opening up new trails for their more experienced skiers.
“One trail is called ‘Psychopath’ and there was a reason for that,” Badley said. “It was pretty narrow, but we've been making it wider. This is so hopefully we can get a snowmobile through there in case we need to pull a (rescue) sled through it.”
They have also been doing safety checks and lift maintenance. The goal is that more experienced skiers will have longer ski times on the mountain, away from the intermediate and beginner skiers.
As Antelope Butte celebrates a landmark 40 years of having a U.S. Forestry permit for the ski resort, it remains on alert in case Elk Fire decides to shift or blow up again.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
